Winter storms, tornado threats for Christmas in US

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Forecasts of snow, sleet and freezing rain threatened to complicate Christmas Day travel around the nation's midsection Tuesday as several Gulf Coast states braced for a chance of twisters and powerful thunderstorms.

A blizzard watch was posted for parts of Indiana and western Kentucky for storms expected to develop Tuesday amid predictions of up to 4 to 7 inches of snow in coming hours. Much of Oklahoma and Arkansas braced under a winter storm warning of an early mix of rain and sleet later turning to snow.

Some mountainous areas of Arkansas' Ozark Mountains could get up to 10 inches of snow amid warnings travel could become "very hazardous or impossible" in the northern tier of the state from near whiteout conditions, the National Weather Service said.

Early Tuesday, the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety said some bridges and overpasses were already becoming slick. Also, Kathleen O'Shea with Oklahoma Gas and Electric said the utility was tracking the storm system to see where repair crews might be needed among nearly 800,000 customers in Oklahoma and western Arkansas.

Elsewhere, areas of east Texas and Louisiana braced for possible thunderstorms as forecasters eyed a swath of the Gulf Coast from east Texas to the Florida Panhandle for the threat of any tornadoes.

Storms expected during the day Tuesday along the Gulf Coast could bring strong tornadoes or winds of more than 75 mph, heavy rain, quarter-sized hail and dangerous lightning in Louisiana and Mississippi, the weather service said.

"Please plan now for how you will receive a severe weather warning, and know where you will go when it is issued. It only takes a few minutes, and it will help everyone have a safe Christmas," Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant said.

Ten storm systems in the last 50 years have spawned at least one Christmastime tornado with winds of 113 mph or more in the South, said Chris Vaccaro, a National Weather Service spokesman in Washington, via email.

The most lethal were the storms of Dec. 24-26, 1982, when 29 tornadoes in Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi killed three people and injured 32; and those of Dec. 24-25, 1964, when two people were killed and about 30 people injured by 14 tornadoes in seven states.

In Alabama, the director of the Emergency Management Agency, Art Faulkner, said he has briefed both local officials and Gov. Robert Bentley on plans for dealing with a possible outbreak of storms.

No day is good for severe weather, but Faulkner said Christmas adds extra challenges because people are visiting unfamiliar areas and often thinking more of snow than possible twisters.

"We are trying to get the word out through our media partners and through social media that people need to be prepared," Faulkner said

During the night, flog blanketed highways at times in the Southeast, including arteries in Atlanta where motorists slowed as a precaution. Fog advisories were posted from Alabama through the Carolinas into southwestern Virginia.

Several communities in Louisiana went ahead with the annual Christmas Eve lighting more than 100 towering log teepees for annual bonfires to welcome Pere Noel along the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. That decision came after fire chiefs and local officials decided to go ahead with the tradition after an afternoon conference call with the National Weather Service.

In California, after a brief reprieve across the northern half of the state on Monday, wet weather was expected to make another appearance on Christmas Day. Flooding and snarled holiday traffic were expected in Southern California.

___

Associated Press writer Bob Johnson in Montgomery, Ala., and Ken Miller in Oklahoma City, Okla., contributed to this report.

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New Zealand level series thanks to Guptill century

EAST LONDON, South Africa (Reuters) – A brilliant, unbeaten century from opener Martin Guptill led New Zealand to an eight-wicket victory off the final ball against South Africa in the second T20 international on Sunday.

Chasing 169 for victory in 19 overs at Buffalo Park, Guptill helped erase the memory of Friday’s embarrassing capitulation to 86 all out in Durban with a stunning batting display as the tourists reached their target for the loss of just two wickets to level the series 1-1.

Requiring 39 from the final four overs and 11 off the last, Guptill was on 97 and needing four for victory when Rory Kleinveldt bowled the final delivery – a low full toss which was eased away through extra cover.

Guptill’s unbeaten 101 was just the third T20 international century by a New Zealander, the first two belonging to captain Brendon McCullum who was almost anonymous with 17 from 15 balls during a second-wicket partnership of 73 with Guptill.

The right-handed opener was similarly dominant during an opening stand of 76 with Rob Nicol (25) as he drove the Proteas attack impeccably straight and displayed the skills – and patience – so obviously missing from the New Zealand batsman in Durban.

Captain Faf du Plessis led from the front once again as South Africa posted a competitive 165-5 in 19 overs after losing the toss and being asked to bat first.

Du Plessis paced his innings to perfection on a tricky pitch to reach 63 from 43 balls with eight fours and a six in a match reduced to 19 overs per side following a 52-minute floodlight failure.

The deciding match takes place in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday.

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Bethenny Frankel and husband of 2 years separating

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Bethenny Frankel and husband Jason Hoppy are separating.

The 42-year-old TV personality, chef, author and entrepreneur told The Associated Press Sunday that the split brings her “great sadness.”

“This was an extremely difficult decision that as a woman and a mother, I have to accept as the best choice for our family,” Frankel said. “We have love and respect for one another and will continue to amicably co-parent our daughter who is and will always remain our first priority. This is an immensely painful and heartbreaking time for us.”

Frankel and Hoppy were married in 2010 and have a daughter, Bryn, who was born that same year. The couple’s courtship and marriage were documented in two reality series, “Bethenny Getting Married?” and “Bethenny Ever After…” Frankel gained fame as a star of “The Real Housewives of New York City.” Since her stint on the Bravo show, she has written four books, released a fitness video and founded her Skinnygirl line of cocktails, shapewear and nutritional supplements.

She launched a talk show, “Bethenny,” over the summer that is set to air nationally on Fox stations in 2013.

___

AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen is on Twitter: www.twitter.com/APSandy .

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Few tests done at toxic sites after superstorm

OLD BRIDGE, N.J. (AP) — For more than a month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has said that the recent superstorm didn’t cause significant problems at any of the 247 Superfund toxic waste sites it’s monitoring in New York and New Jersey.

But in many cases, no actual tests of soil or water are being conducted, just visual inspections.

The EPA conducted a handful of tests right after the storm, but couldn’t provide details or locations of any recent testing when asked last week. New Jersey officials point out that federally designated Superfund sites are EPA’s responsibility.

The 1980 Superfund law gave EPA the power to order cleanups of abandoned, spilled and illegally dumped hazardous wastes that threaten human health or the environment. The sites can involve long-term or short-term cleanups.

Jeff Tittel, executive director of the Sierra Club in New Jersey, says officials haven’t done enough to ensure there is no contamination from Superfund sites. He’s worried toxins could leach into groundwater and the ocean.

“It’s really serious and I think the EPA and the state of New Jersey have not done due diligence to make sure these sites have not created problems,” Tittel said.

The EPA said last month that none of the Superfund sites it monitors in New York or New Jersey sustained significant damage, but that it has done follow-up sampling at the Gowanus Canal site in Brooklyn, the Newtown Creek site on the border of Queens and Brooklyn, and the Raritan Bay Slag site, all of which flooded during the storm.

But last week, EPA spokeswoman Stacy Kika didn’t respond to questions about whether any soil or water tests have been done at the other 243 Superfund sites. The agency hasn’t said exactly how many of the sites flooded.

“Currently, we do not believe that any sites were impacted in ways that would pose a threat to nearby communities,” EPA said in a statement.

Politicians have been asking similar questions, too. On Nov. 29, U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., wrote to the EPA to ask for “an additional assessment” of Sandy’s impact on Superfund sites in the state.

Elevated levels of lead, antimony, arsenic and copper have been found at the Raritan Bay Slag site, a Superfund site since 2009. Blast furnaces dumped lead at the site in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and lead slag was also used there to construct a seawall and jetty.

The EPA found lead levels as high as 142,000 parts per million were found at Raritan Bay in 2007. Natural soil levels for lead range from 50 to 400 parts per million.

The EPA took four samples from the site after Superstorm Sandy: two from a fenced-off beach area and two from a nearby public playground. One of the beach samples tested above the recreational limit for lead. In early November, the EPA said it was taking additional samples “to get a more detailed picture of how the material might have shifted” and will “take appropriate steps to prevent public exposure” at the site, according to a bulletin posted on its website. But six weeks later, the agency couldn’t provide more details of what has been found.

The Newtown Creek site, with pesticides, metals, PCBs and volatile organic compounds, and the Gowanus Canal site, heavily contaminated with PCBs, heavy metals, volatile organics and coal tar wastes, were added to the Superfund list in 2010.

Some say the lead at the Raritan Bay site can disperse easily.

Gabriel Fillippeli, director of the Center for Urban Health at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, said lead tends to stay in the soil once it is deposited but can be moved around by stormwaters or winds. Arsenic, which has been found in the surface water at the site, can leach into the water table, Fillippeli said.

“My concern is twofold. One is, a storm like that surely moved some of that material physically to other places, I would think,” Fillippeli said. “If they don’t cap that or seal it or clean it up, arsenic will continue to make its way slowly into groundwater and lead will be distributed around the neighborhood.”

The lack of testing has left some residents with lingering worries.

The Raritan Bay Slag site sits on the beach overlooking a placid harbor with a view of Staten Island. On a recent foggy morning, workers were hauling out debris, and some nearby residents wondered whether the superstorm increased or spread the amount of pollution at the site.

“I think it brought a lot of crud in from what’s out there,” said Elise Pelletier, whose small bungalow sits on a hill overlooking the Raritan Bay Slag site. “You don’t know what came in from the water.” Her street did not flood because it is up high, but she worries about a park below where people go fishing and walk their dogs. She would like to see more testing done.

Thomas Burke, an associate dean at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, says both federal and state officials generally have a good handle on the major Superfund sites, which often use caps and walls to contain pollution.

“They are designed to hold up,” Burke said of such structures, but added that “you always have to be concerned that an unusual event can spread things around in the environment.” Burke noted that the storm brought in a “tremendous amount” of water, raising the possibility that groundwater plumes could have changed.

“There really have to be evaluations” of communities near the Superfund sites, he said. “It’s important to take a look.”

Officials in both New York and New Jersey note they’ve also been monitoring less toxic sites known as brownfields and haven’t found major problems. The New York DEC said in a statement that brownfields in that state “were not significantly impacted” and that they don’t plan further tests for storm impacts.

Larry Ragonese, a spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, said the agency has done visual inspections of major brownfield sites and also alerted towns and cities to be on the lookout for problems. Ragonese said they just aren’t getting calls voicing such concerns.

Back at the Raritan Bay slag site, some residents want more information. And they want the toxic soil, which has sat here for years, out.

Pat Churchill, who was walking her dog in the park along the water, said she’s still worried.

“There are unanswered questions. You can’t tell me this is all contained. It has to move around,” Churchill said.

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Snow threatens post-Christmas travel

A huge storm that dumped heavy snow and rain on the West Coast is expected to move east and could spoil travel plans for people looking to return home the day after Christmas, which is considered one of the busiest travel days.

The powerful storm that has already blanketed much of Northern California is expected to move east over the next few days and drop snow from Oklahoma starting today before finishing up in the Northeast sometime Wednesday.

The Midwest will be covered with snow by Wednesday, likely causing delays at major airports in cities including Cleveland, Detroit, St. Louis and Chicago just in time for post-Christmas travel, when millions of Americans will be on the move.

Snow could arrive in the Northeast by Thursday, dropping 1-3 inches over parts of New England.

In Syracuse, N.Y., plows are working overtime, dealing with two consecutive days of snow this weekend during the city's first snowstorm of the season. As the city continues to dig out, all eyes are watching the storm roll in from the west.

Torrential rain and heavy winds have also caused trouble for California's Bay Area over the weekend, which has seen severe flooding, power outages and delays for those planning to fly out for the holidays.

Ryan Damstra of Northern California spent seven hours at San Francisco's International Airport Sunday but was not able to fly.

"After I found out my flight had been canceled after four hours of waiting in the airport, I had to wait another three hour customer service line," Damstra told ABC News Radio.

More than 400 flights were canceled on Sunday at San Francisco International Airport. Travelers had to deal with more than 200 cancelations on Saturday.

So far this month San Francisco got almost five inches of rain that is almost twice as much as they get for the entire month of December.

Severe snow and rain are not the only issues facing Americans looking to get home before the New Year. Several states in the Gulf of Mexico all the way from Houston to Raleigh, N.C., are bracing for possible tornadoes starting today and lasting until Wednesday.

The biggest chance for tornadoes will be tomorrow from Houston to New Orleans to Birmingham and Atlanta.

AAA predicts 93.3 million people will travel more than 50 miles this holiday season, from Saturday through New Year's Day. That's a 1.6 percent increase from last year. Christmas is the third-busiest holiday for travelers, after Memorial Day and Thanksgiving.

AAA is urging drivers to leave earlier or later to dodge bad weather.

ABC News' Max Golembo contributed to this report.

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3-day trip becomes 3-week ordeal for 2 Jamaicans

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — It was supposed to be a three-day fishing trip at most. It turned into a three-week ordeal, drifting under an intense sun for hundreds of miles in the Caribbean in a small boat with a broken motor.

The two Jamaican fishermen survived by eating raw fish they caught and drinking water from melted ice they had brought to preserve their catch. The Colombian navy finally plucked them from the sea a week ago and delivered them home Saturday after treating them for severe dehydration, malnutrition and hypothermia.

Everton Gregory, 54, and John Sobah, 58, recounted their story in a telephone interview from Jamaica, while the boat owner and the men’s employer also provided details.

The men set off from Jamaica’s southeastern coast on Nov. 20. The water was glassy, the wind was calm and their boat was laden with 14 buckets of ice, 16 gallons of water and several bags of cereal, bread and fruit.

They headed to Finger Bank, a nearby sand spit 8-miles-long (13-kilometers) that is known for its abundance of fish like wahoo, tuna and mahi mahi. The owner of the 28-foot (8-meter) boat said she usually joins them on fishing trips, but she couldn’t go that afternoon.

After spending a couple of days around Finger Bank, the two men set off for home with their catch. But the boat’s engine soon died. The water was too deep to use the anchor and the current too strong to use the oars, so the boat slowly drifted away from Jamaica.

At first, the men got by on sipping the water and eating the food they brought with them. But days turned into weeks, and they began to eat the fish they had caught and drink the melted ice that had kept it fresh.

Gregory and Sobah kept eating raw fish and used a tarp to try to collect water, but the rain clouds remained at a distance.

Back home, friends and family called police and used their own boats to search the area where the men were last seen. The two fishermen work for the Florida-based nonprofit group Food for the Poor, which chartered a plane to search along Jamaica’s coast.

Marva Espuet, the owner of the boat, said she knew she had packed it with more food and water than needed for a three-day trip, but the thought provided little relief.

“If I had gone, there would have been two boats going,” said the 52-year-old woman, a longtime friend of both fishermen.

With searches proving fruitless, Sobah’s niece grew frantic, recalled Nakhle Hado, a fishing manager for Food for the Poor who helped lead the search. She “begged me that she wanted John back for Christmas,” Hado said.

Hado said some people believed the two men would never be found, but he and others didn’t give up. “My gut was telling me that they were still alive,” he said.

Hado said he had trained Gregory and Sobah on how to survive at sea.

“In case something happens, they don’t have to think twice. They know how to react,” he said. “It’s very important, their mental state.”

Gregory and Sobah finally ran out of fresh water and went several days without drink. A healthy human being can die from dehydration anywhere from three to five days without water.

Then on Dec. 12, a Colombian navy helicopter patrolling off the coast of that South American country spotted the men near Lack of Sleep cay, more than 500 miles (800 kilometers) from where they started. It took two days for a navy vessel to reach them because of bad weather. The men were hospitalized for several days at the Colombian island of San Andres before boarding a plane back home to Jamaica.

“It feels good,” Sobah told the AP in a brief phone interview after arriving.

Gregory said he had lost hope, but Sobah tried to keep him positive that they would be rescued. “I just had that belief,” Sobah said. “I believe in the Creator.”

Yet it is Gregory who plans to keep fishing despite the ordeal because he needs the job.

Sobah said he’s done. “I’m not going to go fishing again. No way.”

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The ‘Teen Mom’ Twitter Proposal

Hmm. Teen mom from Teen Mom Maci Bookout was on Twitter the other day when she received a tweet from the father of her child asking her to marry him. No lie! Ryan Edwards from Teen Dad — Huh? What’s that? There’s no such show? He’s just on Teen Mom? Oh, OK — was all “Maci Bookout marry me!” And Maci was all “Ur s–t got hacked BRO! Outta ur mind haha.” And then Ryan was all “would never let that happen.” Maci asked what he was playing at and then Ryan said, omg, “It means that I want to get on one knee and tell you how much I love you.” Whoaaaa! That’s huge! Maci, marry that boy! He just proposed to you sort of maybe on Twitter! How romantic! Also you have a four-year-old child together so maybe it would be easier to be married, I dunno, for like legal reasons or something? But no. Alas. Maci responded to that saying “Twitter is not the place. Ima kill u.” So wait. If we’re going to take Ryan’s sweet Twitter proposal seriously, which we’re going to, I guess that means we have to take Maci‘s Twitter death threat seriously, too? Police, go arrest Maci. As much as it pains us to say it. Fair’s fair. Ryan, you can marry Maci while she’s in jail. Bentley, which is the name of the child that made all of this, literally all of this, possible, can come live with Ryan while Maci serves her sentence. Sad that such a sweet moment had to end so tragically. But that’s Twitter for you. [Us Weekly]

RELATED: James Franco Has a New Girl

Haha/Ew: Lindsay Lohan said she would not kiss Charlie Sheen when they were filming their scene for Scary Movie 5 because “his mouth grossed her out.” Yes. That’s actually the headline of the TMZ post: “Lindsay REFUSED to Kiss Charlie … Because His Mouth Grossed Her Out.” Man. In a thousand years, when the aliens are sifting through our bones and ashes to learn about the civilization they just annihilated, they’re going to somehow find a list of TMZ headlines and will shake their big gelatinous heads and figure they were right to wipe us out. TMZ headlines. Wooftie. But back to Lindsay, I don’t blame her. You couldn’t pay me a trillion dollars to kiss Charlie Sheen. Why not just pay me ten bucks to lick a wall at the Port Authority? Honestly. Here’s a good line from the story: “we’re told BOTH parties had to sign releases that they didn’t have cold sores.” Which, holy hell, guys. If you have to do that to film a stupid movie, maybe it’s time to pack a suitcase and more to Uruguay. Like, chuck this rotten life aside and say see you soon, Montevideo. You’d be so much happier. It’s supposed to be great down there. It’s time for a change, you guys. Don’t be another TMZ headline. [TMZ]

RELATED: Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan Made Out

Naomi Campbell ate at the new Beatrice Inn on Wednesday night, hobbling in on crutches and in a leg brace after she tore a ligament or something. She ate with Vogue editor Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele and a photographer named Steven Meisel. At a table nearby, Vera Wang, Calvin Klein, and Donna Karan were all having dinner. Excuse me?? What happened next? Did they all go to a screening of Unzipped and then to the after party, where the Spin Doctors were playing? Was everyone talking about the last MTV Top 20 and if Idalis is better than Daisy Fuentes? I mean, what? Naomi Campbell walks into a restaurant and Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, and Vera freaking Wang are eating nearby? Was Betsey Johnson the busboy? Was Cindy Crawford sweating on the line as a cook? Honestly. I didn’t realize they were still filming Prêt-à-Porter. Good grief. [Page Six]

RELATED: The 2012 Gossip Stories We Loved

Did you know that Kelly Clarkson is engaged to Reba McEntire‘s stepson? Because she is. Kelly Clarkson is engaged to Reba McEntire‘s stepson. So engaged, in fact, that Reba thinks the two might elope. Or at least she “wouldn’t be surprised” if they did. Because some big wedding wouldn’t really be Kelly’s style, apparently. Reba said as much: “That was never my deal and I don’t know that that’s Kelly’s either.” Oh, man. I wish Reba would say “that was never my deal” in a sentence about me. What a nice life Kelly Clarkson has had. Famous from a TV show and then actually famous, respectably famous. And now she gets to marry into Reba McEntire‘s family. It’s all coming together for Kelly Clarkson, guys. Just in time for the end of the world. [Us Weekly]

RELATED: In Which Taylor Swift and One Direction’s Harry Styles Get Serious

Jessica Biel has been doing a tour of Broadway recently. First she went to see Book of Mormon and afterward tweeted thusly: “Book of Mormon was too good for words . . . Except for words like amazing and best musical I’ve seen in forever and incredible!” Which is a totally boring thing to say about Book of Mormon. Here’s the skinny on that show: It’s not that good. Actually, forget the italics. It’s just not that good. Just because a Broadway musical swears and says “scrotum” a lot, does not mean it is being daring or irreverent. It’s a wan show that actually totally gives Mormonism a pass and instead averts your gaze to freaking Africa, which it just makes fun of for two hours because who’s gonna fight back on that one? Toothless and dim, that show. Entertaining, but toothless and dim. Whatever. Jessica Biel then went to go see ScarJo in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, which good heavens I didn’t know that was in previews already. That is a nightmare. She’s playing Maggie the Cat, ScarJo is. Can you believe that? Well, believe it or not, she is. And Jessica Biel went to go see it. Tellingly, no tweets about that. Ha, not a single damn tweet about that heap. Anyway, all this playgoing has Page Six wondering if J.Biel might be hungry for a Broadway show of her own. Which would be a fine mess, wouldn’t it? Unless they do a Seventh Heaven stage play, something really serious and earnest, in which case I would walk Ms. Biel to the theater myself. But otherwise? Nope. Get thee back to the Stealth 2 set, Biel. Return to where you belong. [Page Six]

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“Twilight Zone” reboot in the works from Bryan Singer, CBS Television Studios

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Bryan Singer is about to enter “The Twilight Zone.”

The “X-Men” director is working on a reboot of Rod Serling‘s television series with CBS Television Studios, a spokeswoman for CBS Television Studios told TheWrap. Singer will develop and executive-produce the project, and could direct.

The project is currently in the very early stages.

The original “Twilight Zone” ran on CBS from 1959 to 1964, and the network revived the series in the 1980s. Most recently, the UPN ran a revival of the series, with Forest Whitaker hosting. That version, which launched in 2002, lasted one season.

Singer was also involved in the revival of another classic television series earlier this year, with NBC’s “The Munsters” revamp, dubbed “Mockingbird Lane.” Initially conceived as a series, “Mockingbird Lane” aired as a Halloween special for the network.

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UK prosecutors consider charges over royal hoax call

LONDON (Reuters) – British detectives investigating the death of a nurse found hanged after she took a prank phone call at a hospital treating Prince William‘s pregnant wife Kate have passed an evidence file to prosecutors, police said on Saturday.

Public prosecutors must decide whether the case is strong enough to bring charges over a stunt that was condemned around the world and fuelled concerns about media ethics.

Indian-born Jacintha Saldanha, 46, was found hanging in her hospital lodgings in London, days after she answered the hoax call from an Australian radio station, an inquest heard.

She put the call through to a colleague who disclosed details of the Duchess of Cambridge‘s condition during treatment for an extreme form of morning sickness in the early stages of pregnancy.

“Officers submitted a file to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for them to consider whether any potential offences may have been committed by making the hoax call,” London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

A CPS spokesman confirmed it had received the file, but declined to comment on the timing or nature of possible charges.

“That is what we will be considering,” he said.

Prime Minister David Cameron has described the case as a “complete tragedy” and has said many lessons will have to be learned from the nurse’s death.

Australia’s media regulator has launched an investigation into the phone call. Southern Cross Austereo, parent company of radio station 2Day FM, has apologised for the stunt.

Britain’s own media is already under pressure to agree a new system of self-regulation and avoid state intervention following a damning inquiry into reporting practices.

The presenters who made the call, Mel Greig and Michael Christian, have apologised for their actions.

(Reporting by Peter Griffiths; Editing by Stephen Powell)

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Official: North Korea could have U.S. within missile range

SEOUL (Reuters) - This month's rocket launch by reclusive North Korea shows it has likely developed the technology, long suspected in the West, to fire a warhead more than 10,000 km (6,200 miles), South Korean officials said on Sunday, putting the U.S. West Coast in range.

North Korea said the December 12 launch put a weather satellite in orbit but critics say it was aimed at nurturing the kind of technology needed to mount a nuclear warhead on a long-range missile.

North Korea is banned from testing missile or nuclear technology under U.N. sanctions imposed after its 2006 and 2009 nuclear weapons tests and the U.N. Security Council condemned the launch.

South Korea retrieved and analyzed parts of the first-stage rocket that dropped in the waters off its west coast

"As a result of analyzing the material of Unha-3 (North Korea's rocket), we judged North Korea had secured a range of more than 10,000 km in case the warhead is 500-600 kg," a South Korean Defense Ministry official told a news briefing.

North Korea's previous missile tests ended in failure.

North Korea, which denounces the United States as the mother of all warmongers on an almost daily basis, has spent decades and scarce resources to try to develop technology capable of striking targets as far away as the United States and it is also working to build a nuclear arsenal.

But experts believe the North is still years away from mastering the technology needed to miniaturize a nuclear bomb to mount on a missile.

South Korean defense officials also said there was no confirmation whether the North had the re-entry technology needed for a payload to survive the heat and vibration without disintegrating.

Despite international condemnation, the launch this month was seen as a major boost domestically to the credibility of the North's young leader, Kim Jong-un, who took over power from his father who died last year.

Apparently encouraged by the euphoria, the fledgling supreme leader called for the development and launching of "a variety of more working satellites" and "carrier rockets of bigger capacity" at a banquet in Pyongyang on Friday which he hosted for those who contributed to the lift-off, according to North Korean state media.

(Editing by Jack Kim and Nick Macfie)

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